Comb cleaner



R. M. BRODY ET AL COMB CLEANER June 19, 1951 Filed May 6, 1947 F'IG.I

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INVENTOR RALPH M. BRODY y MARTIN H. BRODY fi A l TozNEY Patented June 19, 195T UNITE-D OFFICE Ralph M. Brody and Martin H. Brody, Dorchester, Mass.

Application May 6, 1947, Serial No. 746,388

. 3'Claims. l

The present invention relates to a comb cleaner of the type having numerous substantially paral lel strands through which the comb teeth are combed or passed. Such comb cleaners are normal'ly formed of a plurality of strands Qf threads or strings, held taut in a wire or rigid frame. While such constructions have proven practical and useful, they are apt to be somewhat expensive in construction, diflicult to keep clean and not too sanitary. When strands of threads 6r cords are held together in a Woven piece or clamped at the ends, such end pieces will not only gather dirt as they hang upon the wall, but also in use, so that they must either be washed after practically each use or else soon discarded.

In the present invention, the construction of the comb cleaner is such that it does not tend to gather the dirt on the cleaning strands, and if dirt is gathered it may readily be Washed out without causing the cleaner to be wetted to any substantial degree, so that the cleaner will be immediately ready for use.

A further merit of the present invention is that the cleaner is constructed of a single integral piece of material with the cleaning strands having the elasticity of rubber or of the nature of rubber, so that as the strands are stretched their thickness is diminished. The end elements supporting the strands may be of the same thickness as the strands, or they may be thickened in places if desired. By making the cleaner and strands of rubber, synthetic rubber, or the like, as contrasted with Woven material of cloth, cotton, wool, etc., the strands will not be wetted and therefore after cleaning will be ready to be used without drying.

By stretching the rubber strands, the thickness will be diminished so that they will fit between most any comb teeth, snugly exerting sufficient friction to thoroughly clean the surfaces at the sides of the teeth. In a comb where teeth are spaced close together, the strands may be stretched until they are thin enough to engage between the comb teeth, after which the tension between the supporting ends may be decreased permitting the strands to engage the sides of the teeth and thoroughl clean them as the comb is drawn through the strands.

The invention will be more fully understood from the description as set forth in the specification, when taken in connection with the drawings illustrating an embodiment of the invention, in which:

Fig. 1 shows a plan view of the comb cleaner;

Fig. '2' shows a section taken on the section line 2+2 of Fig. 1; w

Fig; 3 shows a section taken on the line 3-3 of n Figs; 4 and 5' show sections of modifications of the-arrangement shown in Fig. 1 taken longitudi nally of the comb cleaner. g g

Fig.' '6 shows a fragmentary plan yie'w of the arrangement of Fig. 4 as viewed in a downward f t O'fi-....

in the arrangementues ribeu in Figs-l, 2, and 3, the comb cleaner comprises end se'ctions I and 2, with center perforations 3 and '4, which may be used for suspending or hanging the comb cleaner. If the comb cleaner is hung at one end, it may be manually stretched by pulling the other end. Between the two ends I and 2, which preferably have inner parallel edges such as 5 and 6, there are a plurality of strands 1, 1 extending parallel to one another from the inner edge 5 of section I to the inner edge 6 of section 2. These strands and the end pieces I and 2 may be of the same material and integral with the end pieces. In fact, the whole comb cleaner may be stamped from a single piece of elastic yielding rubber or rubber-like material, such, for instance, as pure rubber or rubber which might be vulcanized or slightly toughened or hardened. In fact, the end elements I and 2 may be more vulcanized or hardened than the connecting strands, I, l, which may be permitted to be more yielding and have a greater elasticity, so that they may be more readily stretched with resulting change in thickness.

In the operation of the device shown in Fig. l, the perforation 3 of one end may be engaged over a post Or hook and the cleaner may be stretched manually by grasping the other end, with a finger inserted in the perforation i to aid the grip. The cleaner is then stretched or held taut and the comb is run longitudinally with the teeth engaging the strands, which will rub the wall of the teeth and take out the dirt which might gather between the teeth. Such cleaning may be done with water flowing over the comb or the cleaner, and the cleaner may be soaked if desired. After the cleaning has been accomplished, the cleaner may be thoroughly washed, it being sufficiently flexible so that by putting the two end sections together the strands will separate to any width, permitting cleaning of the strands without impair-ment in any way. Since the cleaner is made of rubber, the water may be just shaken oh and it is ready to be used again.

In the arrangement in Fig. 4, the end portions 8 and 9, corresponding to l and 2 of Fig. '1, have thickened or raised sections l and H extending transversely across the cleaner adjoining the strands I2, so that when the cleaner is stretched between the perforations I3 and I4 the thickened sections In and H will aid in maintaining the cleaner flat across its width. Another means of accomplishing this result is shown in Fig. 5, where the sections around the perforations l5 and I6, corresponding to the perforations 3 and 4, are thickened so that the end sections I1 and [8, in which the perforations are located, will not buckle but keep flat, thus preserving the strands [9 parallel and level with one another.

The modifications illustrated in Figs. 4 and 5 are used in exactly the same manner as the cleaner in Fig. 1.

Having now described our invention, we claim:

1. A comb cleaner of the type described comprising end elements having parallel joining strands therebetween constructed of flexible, yieldable, stretchable rubber, a thickened section extending transversely across said end elements, located adjacent ends of the strands.

2. A comb cleaner of the type described comprising end elements having parallel joining strands therebetween constructed of flexible, yieldable, stretchable rubber, a thickened section extending transversely across said end elements, located adjacent ends of the strands, said end elements having perforations therethrough located outwardly of said thickened sections.

3. A comb cleaner of the type described comprising an integral, flexible, yieldable rubber element having end sections with connecting parallel strands extending from the inner edge of one end section to that of the other end section, the end sections and the strands all lying in substantially the same plane, said strands being stretchable to such a thickness that a comb may berun through them for cleaning purposes, said end elements adjacent the strands being substantially thickened in comparison to other parts of the end elements, with perforations provided in the end elements between the thickened sections and the end of each of the end elements.

RALPH M. BRODY. MARTIN H. BRODY.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 421,413 Loose Feb. 18, 1890 520,613 Richardson May 29, 1894 664,030 Wheeler Dec. 18, 1900 1,515,425 Banks Nov. 11, 1924 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 139,227 Austria May 15, 1934 

